At the invitation of the Munich Security Conference, the Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat (SWAC/OECD) launched its report, “The Geography of Conflict in North and West Africa,” during a side event on 14 February 2020. It is the first time that the SWAC Secretariat has taken part in the world’s leading forum for debating international security issues, an important step towards raising its profile and the visibility of its analytical work. Read on

This report published by the French newspaper La Libération reviews the relationship between the Fulani and Dogon ethnic groups, who lived in traditionally complementary ways. Drawing on local interviews, the article explains the traditional roles each group played, describes the changes that occurred following the jihadist occupation and analyses the root causes of tension, which has caused escalating intercommunal violence. Read on

Guinea-Bissau, the second-smallest West African country, home to nearly 2 million people, will start 2020 with a new president. Úmaro Sissoco Embaló, one of the seven prime ministers who served under outgoing President José Mário Vaz (2016-18), won the run-off election on 29 December 2019 with 54% of the vote. His rival, Domingos Simões Pereira, head of the ruling PAIGC party, denounced the results and suggested there had been electoral fraud. He plans to contest the results and take it up with the Supreme Court. Citizens hope that the election will end several decades of political instability in the country. Embaló’s election marks the first transition of power since independence and is a big milestone in the country’s journey towards democracy. Read on

At the initiative of Germany, UNDP and the Liptako-Gourma Authority, members of the Sahel Alliance gathered on 20-22 November 2019 in Niamey, Niger for a regional workshop on the theme, “Governance and decentralisation: Vectors of peace and stability in the Sahel.” Some 30 participants coming from various administrative levels (local, regional, national) from Sahelian countries as well as international development partners discussed current decentralisation trends, problems and perspectives. Local government representatives from the three countries of the Liptako-Gourma region (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) issued a communiqué in which they urged members and partners of the Sahel Alliance to stronger involve them. Read on